Fearless
by coolangel52
Summary: What would have happened if Harry weren't the only orphan at Hogwarts? What if said second orphan wasn't supposed to be at Hogwarts, in Europe, or even alive? And lastly, what would happen if Harry and this orphan were the key to The Dark Lord's demise? Takes place in Harry's 4th year before Second task. Some Weasley!bashing, Lots of Dumbledore!bashing. HP/GW HG/RW OC/?
1. Shadows

**A/N: Hey guys! This is my first Harry Potter fanfiction! Yay me! Actually this is really my first fanfic! Double yay me! I've written a couple of others things, but they've all been original stories. I don't know why it's taken me so long to start writing this; I start about 3 years ago but abandoned it and dubbed it 'pointless'. Well I seemed to apparently not care about what 3 year younger self thought. Oh well. I would really really REALLY appreciate it if you R/R! I don't know if Im going to continue with it. I won't if you guys don't like it though. Thanks! **

**Disclaimer: I do not own the Harry Potter universe. If I did, I wouldnt be babysitting for a living :)**

* * *

She raced through the low hanging trees. She was panting hard, her lungs burning within her chest. Her curly brown hair fanned out behind her, occasionally falling in the face. She had a frightened expression on her normally cheerful face. Her caramel colored skin looked more like soot with all the dirt attached to it. But that she didn't care. She couldn't let them catch her. Not again.

She had spent an impossible amount of time running. Adrenaline and fear had become her natural instinct. Being alert was second nature. Hope was nonexistent. When she was younger, she had dreamed of having a grand adventure like something out of a story book. Something that would make all of her classmates jealous at her bravery. That, however, had been a childhood dream, probably the result of excessive reading. If her younger self had seen her now, she would have been thrilled. She was living her dream. But, she was far from happy. She had never dreamed of witnessing what she had witnessed, felt as much pain as she had felt, and lived in as much fear as she was living in now. This was not a dream. This was not even a nightmare. It was a living hell.

They had wanted her for the strangest things. Not her brains or beauty. But her oddities that she had tried to hide away from the world. They wanted to harvest the strange things that were happening to her body. When she refused to comply, they had tortured her body with stocks she soon learned to fear. Being there had taught her to trust no one, reveal nothing, and remain emotionless. She had barely escaped with her life. Still, running continuously was safer than remaining with them.

She slowed down as she reached a spring, lightly flowing with crystal clear water. She snapped her head behind her, looking for unseen followers. After a few moments, she committed to relief and sat by the spring to catch her breath. She reached her hand into the clear water. Though the moon was hidden in the trees, she could see the water turn from clear to rusty color as she cleared her wounds, occasionally taken sips. When she was as clean as she was going to get, she lifted herself from her knees and looked around.

She was finally out of the forest after days of running and hiding. In the distance she saw lights, signaling a town was near. Off to her right she saw a a small shack with the lights dimmed. She vaguely heard a gruff voice and a dog whimper in reply. She smiled faintly. She used to have a dog. What was its name...? Unimportant. She shook herself before she could become to absorbed in her thoughts. That would only lead to more pain.

A little ways behind the shack was a large lake with stands around the perimeter. She saw a vast field with what seemed to possess goal posts and more stands. But the thing that caught her eye was the majestic castle in front of her. Through small windows, she could see people bustling about. The castle looked homely, and strangely unguarded.

Her feet seemed to have a mind of their own. Step by step, they inched closer to the castle. As the castle grew larger, the brunette girl quickened her pace. They would never find her here. Maybe she could wait them out. Maybe even forever. She could get whatever was wrong with her body straightened out. She could go home.

She smiled coldly. _Can't catch me now._

* * *

Harry Potter was officially frustrated. Book after book, suggestion after suggestion was shot down. It seemed they would never find something that could help him breathe underwater for an entire hour. To make matters worse, the second task was less than two weeks away. To say the least, Harry was not in the mood for anymore studying.

"Hermione, can't we come back tomorrow? We're going to miss dinner," Ron moaned, voicing both of their concerns.

Hermione huffed, " Is food all you ever think about, Ronald? And besides, we're so close! I can feel it."

Ron rolled his eyes. "All I can feel is my stomach growling. All we've done all day is stay cooped up in the library! All we had for lunch were the sandwiches Dobby brought over! Can't we take the rest of the night off?"

Before Hermione could retort, Harry cut in, "We have been in here for a while, 'Mione. Besides, we have a little over a week to find a solution."

Hermione reddened at Harry's words. For a few moments, Harry feared she might retort angrily. He really didn't need another fight with one of his best friends.

Luckily, she took a deep breath and reluctantly nodded.

"Fine. But we're coming back first thing tomorrow."

Ron whooped, but was hushed by Madam Pince. After rushing to put the books back in their places, the trio made their way into the Great Hall. Harry noticed an absence in weight as he walked.

"Damn, I forgot my book bag. You guys go ahead, I'll meet you there."

Harry rushed back the way they came before Hermione could scold him for his language. Once he had retrieved his bag, he made his way back to the Great Hall.

The corridor was now completely deserted. Harry sauntered through, lost deep in thought about the Tournament.

It was a relief that Ron was his friend again, what with the Second Task, the Yule Ball, and bloody Rita Skeeter. He was fuming when he found out what she had printed about Hermione and him. Hermione now got regular hate mail, courtesy of the meddling reporter. She seemed to be getting inside information awfully quickly. And then, the announcement of the Yule Ball. Almost on instinct, he looked at the Ravenclaw table, straight at Cho. He planned on asking her as soon as possible.

Before he knew it, he was steps away from the Great Hall entrance. But, something caught the corner of his eye. He stopped abruptly.

_'Who in their right mind would be out at this hour?'_ he thought to himself. _'It's dinner time, not to mention below zero at this time of year.'_

He walked over to a window that over look the once-game-ready Quidditch Pitch. A shadow was making it's way towards Hogwarts, and rather quickly at that. He blinked, confused. But when he tried to stare at the figure again, it had vanished. Harry stayed at the window for a few more minutes, searching for what ever it was that had run away. Finally, he gave up and waded towards the Great Hall, but not without a sense of worry deep in his gut.

Harry greeted the bickering Ron and Hermione absent-mindedly, still lost in thought.

'_Who was that?'_


	2. Confusion

She ducked behind a tree just thick enough to keep her hidden. She had nearly been seen by one of the inhabitants. She had to be more careful. She didn't know anything about the place. It could be a trap for all she knew.

She froze at that thought. A trap. Why hadn't she thought of that? It was unguarded, homely, a perfect place to hide. It did seem suspicious. When had she ever just come across a perfect safe house without being discovered and narrowly escaping? She snorted silently at the absurdity of the thought of being truly safe. She clearly hadn't learned from her mistakes. It seemed she never would.

But, it couldn't be a trap. Most decoys were empty. This one seemed to be bustling with people. Perhaps they were all like her, running for their lives? Maybe this was for kids like her? There did seem to be a lot of adults, ushering straggling children.

She warily took a step closer to the castle, not as sure of herself. She took one more, and found her toe bumping a wooden sign. She looked down and tried to reading the fading text:

'Welcome to Hogwarts, School of Witchcraft and Wizardry.'

She blinked. Was this some kind of nerdy joke? Witches and wizards? This was the worst decoy yet. It insulted her how stupid they thought she was.

She laughed loudly, forgetting to be cautious of the castle. She stopped abruptly when she heard rustling in nearby bushes.

"Show yourself." she commanded. She just hoped the offender hadn't heard the slight shake in her voice.

"Stupefy!" A flash of red light emerged from the bushes. Out came an old man, dressed in blue robes with stars splattered over them. His half moon glasses held intense blue eyes, completely focused on her. She almost laugh until she saw what he was grasping firmly in his hand.

He was holding a stick, similar to the ones that had caused her so much pain.

She would've hit herself if she hadn't been too afraid to move. Of course this was an ambush. She had probably broken some invisible laser like in those spy movies she used to watch. If there was one offender, there were bound to be more.

She bolted to the field with goal posts she had seen while trekking in. The man was right on her heels, screaming foreign, yet familiar, words. As the words left his mouth, jets of light would shoot out of the stick. Yellow, red, pink, pink, red, blue, purple.

She could feel herself slowing down. She had used all her energy, something fatal in situations like this. She dared to look behind her. Her follower was surprisingly nimble for his age. She knew he could tell she was wearing down. She wasn't even close to full recovery from her injuries. The old man seemed like he could run for a while before tiring.

She stopped and frantically looked around for something, anything, for her to use to get away. She saw a wooden shed off to her right. Good enough. She dove towards the shed, narrowly missing another streak of red.

She thought back to the men who had held her captive, and how they had opened a seemingly locked door with their sticks. Surely she could do something similar. The only thing she was missing was a stick, but she could open a door without it, right?

She channeled all her energy into her fist. Wood should be easy. It was soft and should shatter with enough force. She drew back and through everything she had left into her hand. With a loud bang, the shed door fell off. She only just registered the pain as she turned around to track the old man's progress. Too close for comfort. She grabbed blindly, hoping for a weapon of some sort. Gun, machete, baseball bat? She winced each time her hand brushed up against anything. Add a shattered hand to the list, she thought to herself. She had had worse.

She felt something with a handle and yanked it out of the shed.

She pulled out an ordinary house broom.

She stared at it in disbelief. It would have to do. The old man was right behind her. She fled to the goal posts, continually dodging colored streaks of light. She used the broom as make shift shield, having it absorb spells that came barreling towards her. She was shocked that the broom was still in tact after absorbing a rather bright streak of red. But she could tell the broom wouldn't hold forever. She could hear the wood splintering. She would have to try and make it back to the forest.

As she gained speed, she felt something pull her injured arm up. She whipped her head to her wayward arm and say the broom steadily rising. She tried picking up speed but that made the broom escalate higher. If she didn't stop this, the broom would be out of reach. The lights were coming closer to her and a lot quicker.

She did the only thing she could: jumped on top of the broom and held on tight.

The broom was rising faster that ever. It was zooming across the field, going twice as fast as she would've ever gone on her feet. It was magnificent. But, she didn't hold onto that feeling for long. She needed to steer this thing. She grabbed onto the metal handle bar in front of her and yanked up. The broom's tip pulled upward obediently, nearly causing her to fall off. She steadied the tip, flying straight. She leaned to the left to avoid a goal post, tightening her grip painfully. She dared a look behind her. She saw a red light and the rapidly approaching ground before her vision was consumed by darkness.

Albus Dumbledore approached the now prone figure slowly. He was shocked to find a young girl, no older than 14. She was filthy, to say the least. He cancelled the levitation charm he had casted on her to prevent the fatal fall from the broom. When she was resting on the ground, he cautiously walked up and analyzed her. Her face had been frozen into a hard, determined look, her green eyes vacant as a result of the stunning spell. Her clothes were worse for wear, frayed and tearing. Her breathing was sharp, and it sounded like internal damage had been done.

Though this was not his ideal way to be spending a Saturday evening, he was relieved the shadow had not been one of Tom's followers. Tom would've been cleaner in a break-in attempt. He would've at least supplied his Death Eater's with wands. The young girl had nothing of the sort. She had looked more than confused at the sight of the school owned Comet 2000. Most wizards and witches were not adequate in physical training, due to the convenience of magic. This girl was obviously quite fit, despite her fragile frame. Albus was still panting after the chase she had put him though.

Albus cast a Feather-Weight charm on her and carried her, trying to ignore the moan of obvious pain when she emitted. He started making his way into the Hospital Wing.

"Poppy!" he called for the skillful mediwitch, hoping she had not already gone down to dinner. Since he had not put much power into the Feather-Weight charm, it was starting to wear off. Albums noticed with a grimace that the girl's actual weight was not much different from her charmed weight.

With a sigh of relief, he saw Poppy rush out from her office.

"Albus," she said flustered, "it's nearly dinner time. What are you doing down here?"

"It seems we had a visitor," The professor cast his eyes down at the stunned girl.

Poppy's eyes widened considerably. She motioned for Albus to set her down on an empty bed. When she was sure the girl would be comfortable when she woke, Poppy proceeded to run numerous spells over the girl's body.

After a few minutes, Poppy turned back to Albus with a solemn expression on her face.

"She's of critical condition, Albus. How did you even find her?"

Albus told her the story as she continued to run tests, occasionally nodding or gasping.

"Is she a muggle?" Poppy asked.

"I'm not certain, Poppy, I highly doubt it. We have many muggle repellents placed around Hogwarts. Only an extremely strong willed muggle would be able to get passed them. But that's for as later time. Can you tell me how she is?" About finished tiredly.

Poppy shook her head grimly. "She has three broken ribs and mass amounts of internal bleeding near her kidneys. Her arm appears to have recently been broken but heal incorrectly. Her right hand is currently shattered, She's been under the Cruciatus curse for dangerous amounts of time. You probably hid her a favor by casting the Stupefying curse upon her."

Albus threw himself into one of the chairs beside the prone girl. "Will she survive?"

Poppy sighed. "I'm pretty sure she will. I can easily fix the broken bones, and I think I know a spell for internal bleeding. But being under the Cruciatus curse for that can can inflict immense mental damage."

"Do you have any idea who this young lady is, might I ask?" Poppy asked Dumbledore steadily.

"No, I'm afraid not. Will casting an Identity charm provoke her injures?"

"Since the charm has no physical effect on the witch or wizard it is cast on, it should be alright." Poppy replied warily; she was not comfortable with others messing with her patients.

At her approval, Dumbledore stood and cast the spell.

"Odentité." A screen appeared over the young girl, stating all of her personal information.

"Well, her name is Grace Hanalei Allen. She lives in the states. I wonder how she ended up here? She has no magical training what so ever. A Muggleborn I would guess. Although, it is a little late for her to still be living like a Muggle. She's almost 15. Shouldn't Highford have given her a letter by now? They start at age 11, too." Poppy referred to the American magical school.

There was silence in the room as they read the rest of the screen. Poppy gasped and looked faint while Albus looked startled. Albus quickly cancelled the spell, nauseated.

"S-shall I wake Ms. Allen?" Poppy asked shakily.

Albus gave a silent nod.

"Reenervate."

Grace blinked quickly, her pace slowing as her eyes adjusted. She sat up suddenly, not even bothered to wince at the pain shooting through her that she had come accustomed to. She looked around the room slowly, her breathing sharp and crisp. Grace finally reached two people who were watching her with concerned looks. She recognized one immediately as the old man who had been chasing her. The other was unfamiliar. She already distrusted both of them.

"Where am I?" she asked slowly, furious that her voice was not as strong as she had envisioned in her head.

The woman was the first to address her. "How are you feeling, Ms. Allen?"

"How do you know who I am?" Grace said suspiciously.

"That's not important," she said "Are you feeling any pain? Discomfort?"

"Not that you need to know about!" Grace snapped. This woman was not about to touch her in any way.

The woman proclaimed a stern expression. "Tsk, tsk. I know you're not up to par. Now, let me see."

She reached over towards Grace. Grace's face turned frightened as she moved away from the woman quickly, nearly rolling off the bed.

Madam Pomfrey looked at the skittish girl with determination and reached across the bed. Grace then decided to act. As the graying woman reached her way over towards her, Grace landed a blunt kick into the woman's rib cage.

The woman staggered back, out of breath. Grace knew now was the chance to make a run for it.

"Perticfious Totilious!" The old man waved his stick, causing another stream of light to come near her. Grace immediately stiffened and fell back onto the bed.

Madam Pomfrey gave Dumbledore a look of gratitude. She then started to tip multiple potions down a moaning Grace's mouth. Finally, she gave the young girl a Dreamless Sleep potion. When Albus was positive that she was asleep, he addressed Madam Pomfrey formally.

"I do not wish to be a bother, but I was hoping you could keep Ms. Allen here until tomorrow for interrogation." At Madam Pomfrey's nod, he gave a her a soft smile, his eyes twinkling. "Then that's that. Now, if you'll excuse me, I'm quite late to supper. Good day."

Dumbledore rushed to the Great Hall, hoping he wouldn't be greeted by pandemonium. Luckily, he wasn't. There were only a few male students who were complaining, the young Mr. Weasley being the loudest. Dumbledore took his chair and started his dinner speech.

"I apologize for the delay. I had business that needed to be attended to. Tuck in, everyone!" As Dumbledore sat down, trays of food appeared on all of the different house tables. He chuckled as he saw Ron Weasley try to shovel everything into his mouth at once, ignoring Hermione Granger's disgusted look. He noticed Ms. Granger talk to Harry Potter. It seemed Mr. Potter was arguing intently with Ms. Granger. He looked away as he felt someone talk delicately on his shoulder.

"Albus, where were you?" Minerva harshly whispered to him.

"We'll discuss after supper, Minerva," he said equally as quiet.

Minerva reluctantly turned away, leaving the headmaster to his food and his thoughts.  
-

"It just doesn't make sense, Harry," Hermione gave him a calculating look. "Surely Professor Dumbledore would've seen this shadow you're talking about."

"I know I saw something Hermione. It wasn't lack of sleep, or a trick of the light. Something is in or near Hogwarts." Harry said, sure of himself.

"I dun oh 'Arry. I does 'ound a bit 'army." Ron tried to speak with an unnatural amount of food in his mouth. Harry rolled his eyes while Hermione crinkled her nose as half-chewed food was sprayed over her.

"Ron's right, no matter how crude he voiced it." At that she turned and glared at Ron, who had gone back to his food. "You might've just been tired."

Harry gave her an exasperated look. " I know what I saw Hermione."

"Alright, Harry. On a different matter," Hermione smirked, " when are you going to ask Cho to the Yule Ball?"

Harry's eyes widened dramatically at the smirking witch, "H-how did you know I fancied her?"

Hermione snickered at his surprised expression. "Harry, I bet Buckbeak knows! You're constantly staring at her with this smitten grin on your face. It was almost a given that you would ask her to the Yule Ball! I'm just wondering why it's taking so long."

Both Harry and Ron were staring at her now, mouths wide open.

"Ron, please close your mouth! That's disgusting." Hermione scolded Ron as food fell out of his mouth.

"W-well I was thinking about asking her…tomorrow?" he looked at his friends, hoping for encouragement.

Hermione looked at him with approval, while Ron grunted his reply.

"Make sure it's something romantic, Harry. Girls love a guy that's subtle, but sweet." Hermione advised.

"How would you know, Hermione?" Ron asked bluntly.

Hermione glared daggers at him. Harry inwardly winced as there two started to argue vigorously.

Harry finished up his dinner and made his way to the 4th year boys dormitory.

He rummaged through his trunk looking for one item in particular. He grinned in accomplishment as he pulled out his Invisibility cloak. He checked his watch. 8:39pm. He inwardly cursed. After using the cloak for multiple occasions, he knew that it was probably best to go out closer to midnight. The risk of being discovered was too great in between the hours of 8 and 10. That was when Filch did he's nightly routines. He would have to bide his time. No matter. He would figure out who was trying to break into his home.  
-

Minerva Gonagoll looked at the Headmaster in shock and dismay. As she looked around, her co-workers seemed to mirror her expression.

They were all thinking along the same lines: How had a young girl made it past the multiple barriers put up around Hogwarts? Furthermore, how could Albus just be willing to bring this girl in and heal her wounds? They didn't know where she had come from or any of the details. She could be a Death Eater in disguise for all they knew!

"Albus, this is mad! We can't just take this Muggle girl into Hogwarts. She could be under You-Know-Who's rule." Professor Flitwick addressed the Dumbledore.

At Flitwick's words, jeers at the Headmaster exploded from every professor's mouth. It took a strong silencing charm to get the room quiet again.

"I have explained to you multiple times that she is not a Muggle," Dumbledore said, strangely calm. "but a witch who was forgotten by Highford, the American school for young witches and wizards. There have been multiple times in Hogwarts history where we have forgotten one or two Muggleborns. However, I've never heard of any school forgetting someone who is nearly a 5th year. From the...information discovered, she was heavily guarded when a young girl, no doubt from Lord Voldemort (almost everyone in the room cringed). She's no different than any of our Muggleborn students. But, I do fear that it will take her a while to adjust to our environment."

"So, you're going to just...take her in?" Minerva asked, still in a state of shock.  
"Albus, now is not the time for some random Muggle-"

"Muggleborn," Albus corrected, but it fell upon deaf ears.

"-to barge into Hogwarts. Between the Tournament and all the foreign students we already are letting into Hogwarts, we don't have time for this young girl! I feel awful about denying her a home here, but she could be dangerous!"

"I have already explained to you," the room popped with magic as Dumbledore's temper spiked, "she is not dangerous! She will remain at Hogwarts, and all of you will teach her whether you want to or not!"

There was a long silence as Dumbledore took a deep breath and returned to his calm demeanor. "Now, if you will all follow me, I shall show you your newest student."

The faculty all hurried behind Dumbledore, frightened by how close he had been to creating a disaster.

When they all reached the Hospital Wing, they were met by an unsettling situation.

Poppy was trying her best to stop a dark colored child from writhing around. The child was screaming in agony, yet seemed to be asleep. Poppy looked up at the group and yelled over the child's screams.

"I don't know what happened! The Dreamless Sleep potion isn't working! It seems to be having the opposite effect! The child won't wake!" Professor Sprout and Professor Trenlawney rushed over to the fitful girl, trying to help restrain her.

"Stun her, you fools!" Severus shouted.

"STUPEFY!" Alastor waved his wand frantically at the girl. There was silence as she stiffened and slumped into the arms of three exhausted women.

"Thank you, Alastor." Poppy said stiffly. He merely wrinkled his nose at the still figure on the bed.

Poppy proceeded to wave her wand over the girl, doing a series of complex tests. The room was silent with the exception of Poppy murmuring incantations to insure Grace stayed unconscious.

"How is she, Poppy?" Albus broke the tense silence.

"A lot better, now that I've mended her injuries. Although she may be healing physically, her mental stability is still in question. Her magical core is also extremely unpredictable."

It seemed as though the entire room gasped simultaneously. This girl was, in fact, not a muggle. She was a witch, as magical as the rest of them. Could there have really been an enrollment mistake? It just didn't seem possible.

Dumbledore's eyes twinkled as he saw the shock written across everyone's faces.

Flitwick cleared his throat. "It appears that Albus was, indeed, correct. But that does not solve the issue of extra space. We simply have no room."

Dumbledore chuckled, his blue eyes still twinkling. "I believe Hogwarts can make the necessary changes to help the child feel at home. She has not failed me yet." He turned and looked at Madam Pomfrey. "I trust Ms. Allen will be healed quickly in your care, Poppy. I wish to introduce her to the students as soon as possible."

With that, the man turned on one heel and walked out of the room, with much to think about. He only hoped the coming day would be less stressful than this one. He would be sorely disappointed.


End file.
